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By Sean O'Driscoll
Senior Crime and Courts Reporter
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Donald Trump discussing his divorce from his ex-wife, Ivana, adds credibility to a recording his lawyer secretly made of him, a former prosecutor has said.
In the recording, Trump can be heard telling his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, to fight the release of his divorce papers for as long as possible. Trump remarks that "there is a woman," presumably Ivana, who also doesn't want the divorce papers released.
It followed legal action by the New York Times to have a court release the Trump divorce papers before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen can be heard reassuring Trump that the New York Times will never be able to get the divorce documents.
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They also discuss pastors who are loyal to Trump and the former president remarks that he doesn't need pastor Mark Burns, who was a strong supporter of his presidential campaign.
At the beginning of the recording, Trump is on the phone to an unidentified woman and tells her that it's best not to travel to Charlottesville, where a white supremacist had shot dead nine people in a church the previous year. Trump remarks that there are "bulls**t" attempts to link his campaign to the killings.
Cohen then allegedly discusses, in coded language, how to repay National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who bought the silence of Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed she had an affair with Trump.
Cohen can be heard talking about setting up a company, allegedly to make the payment to Pecker.
Trump allegedly asks if they have to pay "one fifty"- which prosecutors claim is a reference to the $150,000 that Pecker paid McDougal for her silence and which Trump would have to repay Pecker.
Trump suggests they pay in cash, which Cohen strongly opposes. "No, no, no. I've got it covered," Cohen tells Trump.
Under cross-examination by Trump's legal team on Thursday, Cohen said that Trump was suggesting on the recording that they pay Pecker with actual "green" cash, rather than a bank transfer.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that the flowing nature of the discussions adds credibility to the recordings.
"The other matters like the Ivana divorce, Pastor Mark Burns, and Charlottesville violence aren't relevant, but they lend credibility to the recording and rebut the defense's argument that it was altered," he said.
Rahmani, now president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers law firm in Los Angeles, said that the covert nature of the conversation will not help Trump's defense.
"I don't think Cohen's code words will save Trump. Trump talks about paying one fifty, there is a discussion of paying with cash, and Cohen says they have to open a company for David's info."
"After the recording, McDougal is paid $150,000 and Cohen creates a front company to hide the payments."
"The defense is not going to be able to credibly argue that the two are talking about anything other than hush money payments," he said.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2024, is the first former president in U.S. history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has continually said that this case and other criminal and civil challenges involving him are politically motivated.
The prosecution seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid or discussed paying two women—adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—to not disclose his alleged affairs with them. He denies having affairs with both women.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Friday.
Prosecutors claim that Cohen made the payment to Daniels on Trump's behalf and was later reimbursed. They also claim that it is an illegal campaign contribution because the payment was intended to silence Daniels and thereby influence the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen was later jailed for illegal campaign contributions, tax fraud and other charges. He is now an implacable opponent of Trump and they have attacked each other's characters on social media posts since the trial began.
The cross-examination of Cohen began on Tuesday and it will continue on Monday.
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